The Street Life
by Ice-Song
Summary: [Digimon Savers]Masaru is known as one of the strongest street fighters in his area. When a strong challenger shows up, he must run between his DATS duties and his friends with no one being the wiser.
1. Chapter 1

Masaru sighed heavily into his earpiece as he rocked on his haunches and sat down hard on the asphalt. Touma and Yoshino winced as the rush of static came in on their ends and they both rolled their eyes. "Masaru, bring a part of DATS isn't always about fighting," Yoshino lectured him quietly. "Sometimes it means that we have to wait out something. We got reports that said that someone was attacking in this area late at night. Our guess is that it's a digimon."

"So, sitting here, with nothing to do, at two in the morning, waiting for a digimon that may or may not be here, on a school night is 'waiting out'?" he asked irritably.

Yoshino suppressed her own sigh and shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. She was hiding behind a stack of crates that barely hid her. "Masaru…" she started but Touma's cool voice cut her off.

"Masaru, if you can't handle staying up past your bedtime, then maybe you shouldn't offer to do the street work," Touma growled into his earpiece. Obviously his own nerves were beginning to fray be he'd be dammed if he let on as easily as Masaru.

"What did you say?" Masaru's voice came through the network, low and dangerous.

"You heard me," Touma replied in an equally low voice.

"Now, now," Yoshino said quickly. She desperately wished they were all in the same area so she could physically step between the two in order to keep their cover but she had no such luck. Her only solace was that Masaru had yet to jump from his own hiding area which suggested to her that he might actually be thinking about the mission, regardless of the little spat going on over the wireless ear pieces.

"Aniki, calm down. We need to get the bad guy," Agumon said softly, tugging on Masaru's arm in over to keep him from jumping out of his hiding place.

Masaru growled but settled back down and sat back down on the asphalt with his legs crossed, his elbows on his knees and his chin cupped in his hands. He looked rather like a sulking child but Agumon knew better then to mention such a thing at that time. He'd tease Masaru about it when he was in a better mood.

Finally, an hour later a silhouette could be seen in the distance and the sounds of footsteps could be heard as they came closer and closer to where the DATS agents were hiding. Yoshino was just about to give the signal to attack when Masaru stood up and walked out into the open. "Masaru!" she hissed loudly.

Masaru sighed and walked towards the shadow. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked rudely. "This isn't your area."

A voice chuckled and a large man stepped into a pool of light that came from a lamp overhead. "Well, well, well, the area's leader, Daimon. It took me three nights of getting your followers before you showed up. You're smaller then I thought you'd be," he sniffled.

Masaru held his piggy black eyes in a hard glare. "Don't underestimate me 'cause I'm younger then you, jerk. I've gone up against people much worse then you."

The man snorted. "Unlikely, brat. And what's with that getup? What, are street clothes too good for the Bratling King of street fighting?"

"Bite me," Masaru snapped and sunk into a battle stance.

"Masaru, what the hell are you doing?" Touma asked over his earpiece.

"Just stay back," Masaru murmured as he and his opponent circled each other. "This doesn't concern you."

"The hell it doesn't!" Touma yelled back.

Masaru winced and the man charged at him. Masaru stepped smoothly to the right and stuck out his foot, tripping the man and throwing him off balance. Instead of letting him fall to the ground, Masaru linked his elbow with the man's and jerked him back upright and swung him around, throwing him back into the spot where he had charged from.

Masaru walked over and sniffed. "You should be more aware of your ability before you come after the bigger fighters," he said, turning the man over with his foot. "I became the leader of this area for a reason. Don't forget that."

The man stood up and dusted himself off with as much dignity as he could and walked off without another word. Masaru let out a slow breath and waved. "S'okay Agumon, you can come out now!"

Agumon ran out and latched onto Masaru. "That was so cool, Aniki!" he gushed. "No one can beat you!"

"Yeah," Masaru agreed in mock modesty.

Touma and Yoshino came out of their hiding places. "What was that?" Yoshino asked.

"A street fight," Masaru shrugged. "You think I just magically was able to fight the way I do?"

"Well…" Yoshino blinked, at a loss for words.

"I'm a street fighter," Masaru said simply. "It's what I do. It's how I got strong. That was just some punk looking for a fight and when I beat him he left. We're not thugs, just people looking for a battle."

Yoshino frowned. "But… I don't understand."

"I don't care," Masaru told her. "It's none of your business what I do outside of DATS anyways. I was a street fighter long before I started to fight digimon and I worked hard for my reputation."

"Yeah, as hard as a 14 year old brat can work," a voice scoffed.

Touma looked up and whirled around at the voice by his shoulder. A woman smirked and stepped into the opening the light overhead created. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Daimon."

Masaru turned around and glared at the woman who was easily two years older then Yoshino even. "Top-Tem, why didn't you take care of it? Before everyone else got beat up by that looser?"

"I wanted to see if our fearless leader would show his sorry butt," she snapped back. "You've all but vanished over these last few weeks."

"School stuff," Masaru sniffed, glaring at Masaru and Yoshino to object to his story. They didn't.

"Right, school stuff," she said slowly. "Well then Daimon, when your 'school stuff' costs you your title don't come crying to me."

"Ha, like anyone could beat me," Masaru said, while nonchalantly shoving Agumon out of the light.

Top-Tem walked over and caught Masaru in a choke hold. She ground her knuckles into his head with a wicked grin. "Don't get cocky brat. You're good but you're where you are because of your followers. Don't forget that."

"Good at what?" Touma asked while Masaru protested the rough treatment loudly.

"Street fighting," Top-Tem said. "The formulated stuff," she said in response to the questioning glances of Yoshino and Touma. "It has rules, which is why after that guy was defeated, he walked away. No one continues a fight after they've lost. No one."

"There are rules?" Yoshino asked.

"Of course there are rules! We're not out to steal little kid's lunch money or anything!" Top-Tem snapped. She turned to Masaru, "Who are these people?"

Masaru pushed Top-Tem off himself and stood up straight, a small blush passing over his cheeks. "That's Touma," he said, pointing to the tall blonde. "And that's Yoshino," he said while pointing to the older girl. "They're comrades in my new job."

"Ah, 'school stuff,'" Top-Tem said wisely. "Well kid, you better find a way to get more 'Masaru stuff' done. The head of the Kyoto street fighters is coming and looking for a battle. I suggest you get in some staff practice, I know you don't use the damn thing as much as you should."

"A fight between men is settled with fists," Masaru growled while crossing his arms huffily.

"And a street fight against one of the strongest people in Japan won't be won without a weapon," Top-Tem retorted hotly. "He's got his damn spider-web weapon, you better take yours."

"Whatever," Masaru said with a frown.

"I'll come seek you out in the morning," Top-Tem sighed. "He won't be here for a few days at least. Maybe you'll be in a better mood after you've had some sleep."

"I doubt that," Touma sighed.

Top-Tem grinned. "Ah, you seem to understand him then." She walked over to Touma as if she was walking out of the area. "Then do me a favor and convince the brat to use his weapon, or his ass will get handed to him quicker then this battle here."

"I'm not a fighter," Touma growled.

"But you're his friend?" she asked.

Touma's silence answered her question and she nodded. "Just try," she sighed. "And try not to get in too over your head," she advised and vanished into the night.

"Weapons, fights, Kyoto?" Yoshino looked puzzled. "What's going on here?"

"None of your business," Masaru retorted huffily. "I'm going to bed," he stated and waved an arm limply. "C'mon Agumon."

"Coming, Aniki!" Agumon cried out and trotted after Masaru's retreating form.

"What on earth was that all about?" Yoshino sighed.

"I have no idea," Touma said truthfully.

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Masaru snuck quietly into his room and changed into his PJ's. "Aniki," Agumon said softly as Masaru rooted around in his closet.

"Hm?" Masaru asked.

"Are you going to be fighting again?" Agumon asked.

Masaru sighed and pulled out a long staff that was long as he was tall. "Looks like it," he noted. "The battles on the street just aren't as exciting as the ones against the digimon," he said. Then he grinned, "But if I need this against the guy that's coming up then maybe I'll get to fight someone that's worth it."

"Was I a good opponent?" Agumon asked hopefully.

Masaru nodded. "Yeah, you were a great opponent," he complimented his digimon who seemed to glow with happiness.

With a grin, Masaru propped the staff up against his wall and crawled into bed. "I don't like using it," he said softly. "But when I have to, the fights are always worth it."

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I got this idea from all the info on Masaru where it says 'he claims he's the strongest street fighter in Japan.' I figured I could write a fic about that and use it as an excuse for character development for him, Agumon as well as Touma, Yoshino and their digimon. Plus, I want to focus a bit more on the personalites beyond the 'bad guy of the day' thing going on in the first eps of this show. Hope you liked it! 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Masaru woke up to the smell of his mother's cooking. He yawned and turned over sleepily, making a mental note that Agumon wasn't in his room. With a sigh he fell back onto the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. He really didn't want to get up quite yet, what with how late he was out the night before. But Top Tem told him she was going to wait and he knew that she didn't like to wait. 

He pulled himself out of bed and went downstairs in his pajamas while pulling back his hair. He went into the kitchen and looked around to see his mother frying some rice and what looked like a stir fry on the stove. "Odd breakfast," he commented with a raised eyebrow.

His mother turned around and smiled. "Oh, this isn't breakfast. Breakfast is over, sweetie. It's almost noon."

Masaru's eyes widened and he ran into the living room to take a look at the digital clock. "WHAT?" he yelled.

"No yelling in the house!" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Hello, aniki," Agumon said without turning away from the television show he was watching.

Masaru walked over and ground his knuckles on either side of Agumon's head. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he growled.

"Ow!" the digimon protested the rough treatment and squirmed uncomfortably. "You never told me to wake you up!"

"Top Tem told me she was going to wait in the morning," Masaru growled. "How am I supposed to meet someone in the morning when its almost noon?"

"It's not his fault," Chika said from her spot on the couch. Masaru turned to look at his little sister who was peering at him over her book. "Did you ever actually ask him to wake you up?"

Masaru blinked as he kept his vice grip on Agumon but stopped grinding his knuckles into the poor creature's head. "No," he answered slowly.

"Then it's not his fault," Chika said again. "And by the way, it's 12:36," she nodded at the clock and returned to her book.

"Crap," Masaru hissed and ran upstairs to get dressed.

While the opening and closing of drawers could he heard as he got dressed Agumon sighed and turned off the TV. He picked up the digivice he went around with Masaru in and quietly exited the room.

A minute later Masaru came bounding down the stairs with his staff and looked around to see Agumon holding out the digivice. Masaru grinned and took it. "You want to come?" he asked.

Agumon nodded, "I wanna see Aniki fight," he said excitedly.

Masaru held out the electronic device. "You don't mind?" he asked, noting his digimon's obvious dislike for being inside of it.

Agumon shook his head and digitized into the digivice. Masaru smiled at him through the screen and pocketed it, allowing the window to peek out so that Agumon could see what was going on. He propped the loathed weapon against the wall and sat down to pull on his shows when his mom came out into the hallway. "Where are you going?" she asked sternly.

Masaru blinked and bit his lip with his back still turned towards his mother. "Um, I'm going to meet a friend," he said truthfully. He knew that his mother was aware of his fighting habits but he also knew that she didn't approve. He still wasn't sure if she understood completely what he did at DATS and he was glad that it was covered up by all the deskwork even if he didn't like doing it.

"A friend?" she asked dubiously, her eyes flicking over to the staff then back to Masaru who was still frozen in the middle of putting on his other shoe.

"Yes," Masaru said slowly, praying his mom would let him go.

She sighed heavily and retreated into the kitchen. Masaru stayed where he was as he heard some bustling and opening and closing of cupboards not daring to move as his mother hadn't exactly said 'you can leave.' Slowly he finished putting on his shoes and stood up to peer through the kitchen doorway.

His mother came back out and handed him a box with a cloth tied neatly around it. "Here," she said simply. "You missed breakfast and you have to eat something," she said with a smile. "Have fun with your friend."

Masaru relaxed and grinned at his mother. He nodded and took the boxed lunch then turned towards the door. "I'll be back for dinner," he said and picked up the staff. "Bye!"

"Bye," his mom answered then returned to the kitchen to finish lunch for herself and Chika. "Sometimes I worry about him," she sighed as she took the rice off the stove.

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Masaru ran outside and headed towards the piers where most of his fights took place. Every once in awhile he'd run across some punks who would assume that they could just have at him but he'd always put them in their place regardless of number.

"About damn time!" a voice called out after he walked into a storage area.

Masaru turned around and raised his arm to block and halfhearted punch from Top Tem. "I was tired," he sniffed. Even though he had bustled around to get out as soon as he could for her sake hell would freeze over before he let her know it.

She snorted. "Well, kids do need their sleep," she quipped. As expected, Masaru took the bait and he let his staff drop to the ground, opting for the more comfortable style of throwing punches.

She grinned as she blocked a punch with her other arm and held it steady. "Oh? The great Daimon is holding back for my sake?" she asked in a cutest voice that didn't suit the ice-cold glare she was giving Masaru. "You shouldn't have."

Masaru grinned and pulled back, throwing a punch in earnest and while she managed to successfully block it she winced as her arm went partially numb. She jumped back and rubbed her arm where Masaru had hit it. "God forbid," she sighed, "you're getting stronger."

"Damn right I am," Masaru said with a smirk. "Now do you think I need my weapon?"

Top Tem pulled back her arm and thrust it forward, letting loose what looked like a yo-yo with several sharp protrusions around the edge that were sharp enough to hurt but not cut. That was something of an important rule, when you were in a declared street fight, one never ever used blades or cutting weapons. If blood was drawn then it was most likely your own fault, but no one ever went after one another's lives intentionally. Now the off the record street fights were a different story but she wasn't one of 'those' people even though she had her suspicions that Masaru had had more then his fair share of 'those' kinds of fights.

Masaru brought up his arm and let the yo-yo weapon wrap around it and winced when the end bit into his skin. Top Tem grinned and pulled the string, forcing Masaru to step forward because of her leverage. "Yes, yes I do," she answered.

Masaru snorted and ran forward willingly, making the strong go slack and running faster then Top Tem could draw it back. He jumped up, high enough that he forced Top Tem to look into the sun and landed on her blind side, pivoting around and sweeping his leg underneath her. She fell to the ground hard and Masaru unwound the yo-yo and stood over her with a smirk, dropping the weapon on the ground. "No I don't," he sniffed. "It was pointless to bring it anyways."

"Shut up, Daimon," Top Tem growled at him from her vantage point on the ground. "This guy is on a totally different level and you know it."

Masaru crossed his arms and continued to gloat. "Well, that may be but I don't need no weapon. I can take on anyone, anytime by myself."

Top Tem flicked her wrist and let the yo-yo wrap its self around Masaru's ankle. Masaru only had time to blink before she pulled and caused him to topple over as well. "Not if you leave your defense open like that, moron," she growled.

"Are you all right, Aniki?" Agumon whispered quietly although Masaru could tell he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Shut. Up." He growled angrily.

Top Tem stood up and brushed herself off as she let Masaru go from her weapon's entanglement and wound it manually. "Humor me, Daimon. I don't want to see you get your sorry ass kicked by the Kyoto representative in two days. Just pick up the damn stick and practice."

"I don't need it," Masaru said with a growl as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Then why did you bring it?" Top Tem asked stiffly.

Masaru froze and looked at the staff. Top Tem followed his gaze and plunged on, hoping against hope that she could get something into his thick skull. "Look, if you don't need it then just throw it down and fight like you did today. BUT!" she snapped loudly, forcing Masaru to turn and look at her. "But," she repeated a bit more softly. "If you need it then please promise me you'll pick it up and use it."

Masaru looked at the weapon and walked over. In one fluid motion, he put his foot underneath it and maneuvered it into his hand in a battle ready position. "Fine," he said huffily.

Top Tem smiled and nodded. Knowing she wouldn't get any more out of Masaru she twisted her hand and let the yo-yo fly out in an arc so that Masaru would be forced to defend with his staff. He brought it up and let the yo-yo twist around it, jerking Top Tem to the side and rushing in for an attack. Top Tem grinned as she prepared to take the attack. At least something got through to him.

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Yoshino yawned as she tapped halfheartedly at the keys. Raramon came over and looked at her tamer with concern in her little black eyes. "What's wrong, Yoshino?" she asked.

"I'm tired," Yoshino answered. "I have finals in two weeks, and staying up didn't help me any."

"Maybe you should rest a little," Raramon said quietly. "You'll make yourself sick if you keep on pushing yourself."

Yoshino smiled and turned to face her digimon. "I'll be fine. Just a few more weeks, right?" she asked.

Raramon sighed. "Yoshino, you keep on pushing yourself too much. Maybe if you took a little better care…"

Yoshino patted Raramon on the head smartly to make the digimon stop lecturing her. "I'll be fine," she said a little more stiffly.

Raramon sighed and quieted down but continued to hover over Yoshino as a silent reminder of what she should do.

Gaomon watched this with interest and wondered what it was like to have frequent arguments with the one that the digimon was paired with. Raramon and Yoshino seemed to argue quite a bit in private and goodness knew that Masaru and Agumon argued in public all the time but even though they fought it seemed that they were no worse off for it. If anything, their bonds seemed stronger for it.

"Gaomon, we're going out on a mission," Touma's voice called through the door as he walked by the room that Gaomon was in. Gaomon blinked as he pulled himself out of his musings and walked briskly out of the door to follow Touma's commands without a second thought.

"Where are we going, master?" Gaomon asked after he had appeared in Touma's digivice.

"A new unidentified digimon has appeared by the docks in the southern area of town," Touma answered quickly and decisively as he read the report. "We are to go there and take it down."

"Yes, master," Gaomon replied and the rest of the trip was made in silence.

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"Aniki…" Agumon said softly as Masaru blocked another attack from Top Tem.

"Mm?" Masaru asked, not really listening to what Agumon had to say. His mind was on the battle at hand.

"Aniki, I feel something," Agumon said softly. "Something…"

Masaru turned to the side and went in to floor Top Tem for the third time but she was too quick and caught the staff before he could bring it under her legs. "Getting slow, Daimon?" she smirked.

"Who, me?" Masaru asked with a dark grin.

Just then there was a loud explosion on the other side of the docks. "What the hell?" Top Tem asked softly as she straightened up.

"Aniki, I just got an e-mail. That was a digimon attack!" Agumon whisper yelled to get Masaru's attention.

Masaru hissed and ran towards the explosion. "Damn it!"

"Where are you going, Daimon!" Top Tem yelled.

"I'll explain later!" Masaru called back as he disappeared behind a stack of crates.

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Yey, random pointless fic that no one seems to like has been updated! But I like Top Tem and I enjoy writing her and how much she kicks ass and how Masaru beats her and how eventually she'll be a bit stronger later on so I'll continue the story. Ha ha.

Plus mmm... Touma and Yoshino character development. Kinda. Ish...


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